Ah, capitalism! BLF gets all topical as we dive into the Mia Ballard Shy Girl debacle and spoiler alert: we're not here to pile on Mia. We've got bigger, smellier fish to fry, starting with the Big Five publisher who somehow forgot that editors kinda-sorta are supposed to, like, edit? Oh no, that costs money, so whatevs, we guess.
We talk about how Ballard is simultaneously the most and least powerful person in this disaster show, the publishers who hung her out to dry, and the uncomfortable truth about who gets pilloried for literary fraud and who doesn't. Plus we get all intersectional-like as we get SUPER ANGRY about misogyny, racism, classism, and why capitalism is gobbling up artistry to make yet more yacht money. Somehow we're still capitalists, but... watch this space???
Plus in Hot Goss: Some twerp on Substack asserted that it costs $25,000 to successfully query a literary agent and he is awfully and confidently wrong. Not surprising when you come across as having an ego the size of Saturn!
Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing.
Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty.
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Show notes:
Shy Girl
- New York Times (boo hiss -- free link because we love you): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/books/shy-girl-book-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UlA.SBZg.n608mfV3RwdK&smid=url-share
- Reddit post from r/horrorlit: https://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/1q8so32/shy_girl_by_mia_ballard_does_anyone_else_think/
- Frankie Shelf's 2 hr 40 min video (for those with a lot of time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbeKTa5xhZo
- Whyn Lewis's amazing art! https://www.instagram.com/whynlewispaintings/
Hot Goss
For true connoisseurs of wankerdom only, may we recommend the stylings of Michael O. Church?
- It costs $25k for a successful query. Okay, Jan. https://antipodes.substack.com/p/yes-it-costs-25000-to-query-literary
- More whining, just earlier, also very wrong: https://antipodes.substack.com/p/literary-agents-dont-read-how-i-proved